1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a retractable hose guide, and more specifically, to a hose guide having a pop-up device that is actuated by a generally linear motion.
2. Background Information
A hose guide, in the most basic form, is a simple post embedded in the ground. A user places the hose on one side of the post to prevent the hose from being pulled over an adjacent area. Such posts are useful, but not typically attractive. One improvement to hose guides was to provide a decorative aspect, such as a finial or ornamental top. Other improvements included having a portion of the hose guide retract into the ground. Typically, such hose guides had a shell that was embedded in the ground and an extendable post. One disadvantage of retractable hose guides was that the extendable post needed to be manually pulled from the shell. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,815,645. An improvement over this type of hose guide included a spring-biased extendable post. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,595,464. The extendable post was locked in the retracted position by a tab or “key” disposed in a keyed slot. To release the extendable post the user was required to rotate the extendable post so that the key aligned with the keyhole. Such a maneuver, typically, required manipulation by the user's hands. Thus, while the spring eliminated the need to manually pull the extendable post from the shell, the locking feature still required a user to bend over or crouch in order to actuate the release. Additionally, when lowering the extendable post, the user was required to overcome the bias of the spring, as well as rotating the key through the key hole. 